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Article

7 Dec 2015

Author:
Kimsegninga Savadogo, Burkina Faso’s National Secretariat Comms Officer

EITI is a tool to optimize the benefits of natural resources exploitation through transparency and accountability says Burkina Faso’s National Secretariat Comms Officer

"Burkina Faso injects EITI therapy into its mining sector", 3 December 2015

As a former journalist at the daily newspaper Sidwaya...working on the development desk I became aware of the EITI when natural resource management became a major topical issue...I saw the EITI taking off in my country and knew that I wanted to contribute more concretely to the process...My first impression was that the EITI could improve governance of the mining sector in Burkina Faso and through the good management of the revenues from that sector we could reduce poverty levels..."Prevention is better than cure," and the Government of my country seems to have understood this assertion by deciding very early...to start the fight for a safe exploitation of the country’s mineral resources. Burkina Faso was quick to grasp the EITI to prevent the corruption, unrest and conflict that can occur when large mining windfalls are mismanaged and also to kick-start the mining sector...EITI is not a magic key that opens blissfully onto the yellow brick road of good governance and automatically closes any potential misunderstandings or disputes in the extractive sector. Rather, the EITI is more akin to a robust screw driver that helps countries to open up communication between stakeholders where previously there has been a lack of dialogue and ensure a consensual monitoring of extractive activity. It is a tool to optimize the benefits of natural resources exploitation through transparency and accountability.